1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing bidirectionally openable slide fasteners, i.e., slide fasteners having two oppositely directed sliders and a separable box and pin.
2. Prior Art:
One known method of manufacturing bidirectionally openable slide fasteners is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 56-85301, for example. According to the disclosed method, first and second sliders are successively threaded over a pair of slide fastener stringers while the latter are being fed along, and then a box pin and a pin are attached respectively to the stringers. Another method, which is an improvement over the above prior method, has been devised as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 58-132095 filed by the present applicant. This method comprises attaching a pin to one of slide fastener stringers before first and second sliders are threaded over the stringers, and then attaching a box pin to the other stringer after the sliders have been threaded. However, there has been proposed no apparatus for automatically manufacturing bidirectionally openable slide fasteners. It has been conventional practice to manually attach sliders, a pin, and a box pin to slide fastener stringers respectively on dedicated machines. Bidirectionally openable slide fasteners with right-hand and left-hand pins have been manufactured with jigs designed respectively for attaching right-hand and left-hand pins.